Syria: A Very Instructive Episode

Counterrevolutionary ISIS/Daesh collaborates with Assad’s
Army (as well as Erdoğan and Putin) in Attacking the Syrian Liberation Fighters in Idlib

By Michael Pröbsting, International Secretary of the
Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 10.10.2017, www.thecommunists.net

Very instructive events are currently taking place at the southeastern border of the Idlib province
which is the largest area controlled by the supporters of the Syrian Revolution. In the morning of 9 October a large convoy of several hundred (up to 700) Daesh/ISIS fighters, including 3 tanks,
one BMP (infantry fighting vehicle,) and 25 technicals (light truck mounted with weapons), attacked areas in the East Hama countryside which have been under control of the Syrian liberation
forces. They surprised the rebels and succeeded in temporarily conquering 13 villages.

However, the Syrian liberation fighters in the area – led by the petty-bourgeois nationalist Islamist
Hayyat Tahir al-Sham (HTS) – immediately organized the resistance and succeeded during the day to drive back the aggressors. According to the Ebaa News Agency (HTS’s official media
wing), they were able to restore control of all villages concerned by the evening of the same day.(1)

It is not surprising in itself that Daesh/ISIS attacks those who are fighting for the continuation of
the Syrian Revolution. They have done this for years which is why the RCIT – like many Syrian revolutionaries – characterizes them as reactionary, counter-revolutionary forces.(2)

It is however highly indicative that Daeshs’ attack takes place exactly at the same time when HTS and
other Syrian liberation forces have launched a successful offensive against Assad’s army in southern Idlib.(3)During their campaign they gainedfully control over the villages Abu
Dali, Mushairfa and Tal Aswadsince 19 September. This is noteworthy as Abu Dali is the only gate between the Syrian opposition held areas in north Syria and Syrian
regime held areas in Hama city. (4)

It is likewise characteristic that this attack of Daesh/ISIS takes place at exactly the same time when the
Turkish army and their FSA mercenaries are invading Idlib in the North and when the Russian air force is intensifying its terrorist attacks in that area. (5)They are doing this with the openly declared goal of smashing HTS and
all other forces who oppose the counterrevolutionary Astana deal which is the instrument through which Assad, Russia, Iran and Turkey, with the tacit support of the US, want to liquidate the
Syrian Revolution. (6)

However, the most instructive aspect of this episode is the location where the Daesh/ISIS fighters came
from. These forces were stationed before in the Uqayribat district in Hama where they were besieged by Assad’s army for two months. (7)“Suddenly”, these encircled the Daesh/ISIS fighters were able to cross a distance of more than 35km through
an area which has been under control by Assad’s forces since a very long time. This fact is undisputable and has to be admitted even by fanatical supporters of Assad and Putin like the notorious
South Front website. (8)

This automatically provokes the following questions:

* How were the Daesh/ISIS fighters able to move to the rebel-controlled areas despite the fact that they
were besieged and totally outnumbered by Assad’s army for two months?!

* And how was this possible given the fact that this was a large convoy with three tanks travelling such a
long distance?!

* And why did the Daesh/ISIS convoy not face a single attack by Assad’s or Russia’s air force?!

The only possible conclusion is that the commanders of the Assadist and Russian forces reached an agreement
with Daesh/ISIS. They allowed them to leave their pocket so that they can attack the liberated areas in Idlib. Hence we see, despite the Assadists’ empty rhetoric about being the “forward post in the struggle against the ISIS terrorists and the jihadists”, when it comes to fighting the Syrian Revolution Assad and Daesh/ISIS become good
friends and direct their weapons jointly against the liberation fighters.

The RCIT has been attacked many times by the friends and semi-friends of Assad and Putin for our unwavering
support for the Syrian Revolution. These fools call us “Trotskyist jihadists”, etc. But as we can see it is the Assadists which work hand in hand with the “jihadists” in order to defeat one of
the most important and heroic popular uprising in recent times!

The practical collaboration of the Assadist terrorists and the Daesh terrorists against the Syrian
Revolution is once more a proof of the counterrevolutionary nature of these forces.

TheRevolutionary Communist International Tendencycontinues its support for the liberation struggle of the Syrian workers and peasants
despite the extremely difficult situation it faces today. When the Revolution is under attack from all sides – the Assad dictatorship, the Turkish Erdoğan regime, Russian as well as US
imperialism and finally various FSA mercenaries – it is all the more important to maintain international solidarity with those who don’t give up the struggle.

For the RCIT’s analysis of the Arab Revolution
in general and the Syrian Revolution in particular, we refer readers to our numerous articles and documents which can be accessed from the Africa and Middle East section of our website: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/. In particular we refer readers to the
following documents:

Michael Pröbsting: Is the Syrian Revolution at
its End? Is Third Camp Abstentionism Justified? An essay on the organs of popular power in the liberated area of Syria, on the character of the different sectors of the Syrian rebels, and on the
failure of those leftists who deserted the Syrian Revolution, 5 April 2017, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/syrian-revolution-not-dead/

RCIT: World Perspectives 2017: The Struggle
against the Reactionary Offensive in the Era of Trumpism, Theses on the World Situation, the Perspectives for Class Struggle and the Tasks of Revolutionaries, 18 December 2016, Chapter IV. The
Middle East and the State of the Arab Revolution, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/world-perspectives-2017/part-4/